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411’s Wrestler of the Week 07.05.10: Week 14

July 5, 2010 | Posted by Larry Csonka

Welcome to Week 14, Year SIX, of 411’s Wrestler of the Week. A quick overview of the rules to kick things off for us as a reminder…

Each writer chooses FIVE wrestlers from any promotion and each wrestler gets a point total attached to that ranking. It looks a little like this…

1st – 5
2nd – 4
3rd – 3
4th – 2
5th – 1

If you are wondering how some of the writers decide who to vote for, please check out our Wrestler of the Week Supplemental Column!

Then we tally up the votes and the official 411 Wrestler of the Week is crowned. But wait, there’s more! Each week the top SIX vote getters get a points value for their ranking which looks something like this…

1st – 15
2nd – 12
3rd – 9
4th – 6
5th – 3
6th – 1

…and they go towards the 411 Wrestler of the Year award to be announced each year at WrestleMania. This will be posted every Monday. Let’s see who wins this week…

The Voting~!
Aaron Hubbard
1) Kaval
Won a six-person tag team match on NXT and was #1 in the rankings. It’s a good week for the former Low Ki.

2) Kaz Hyashi: Rapidly approaching the all-time record for successful title defenses of the AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Championship after defeating Taka Michinoku in a clash of “Token WCW Japanese Guy” vs. “Token WWE Japanese Guy”.
3) Samoa Joe: Choked out AJ Styles on TNA Impact, hopefully a sign of things to come. Ha. Yeah right. Consistency in TNA. Pfft.
4) Randy Orton
5) Jeff Hardy

Larry Csonka
1) Akebono and Taiyo Kea
They defeated Ryota Hama and Suwama to win the vacant AJPW Tag Team Titles. Winning gold will earn you love on the list from me, and in an especially slow week, it takes the top honors.

2) Samoa Joe: While they didn’t have a lot of time, Samoa Joe and AJ Styles put on a fun match on Impact this past week. Joe has been lacking direction for a while, but a really fun match and the victory will get the love this week.
3) Kaval: Another strong showing on NXT led to a #1 ranking for Kaval. In a slim week that accomplishment will earn him some love.
4) Pope D’Angelo Dinero
5) Kaz Hyashi

Steve Cook
1) Kaval
Honestly, it was a pretty slow week for people stepping up to the plate and knocking it out of the park. Since we can’t give the award to Brock Lesnar, I’ll go with the guy who was on top of the NXT Poll and scored his first WWE pinfall with the Warriors’ Way. Unlike Daniel Bryan, Kaval’s gotten the chance to actually do some things in the ring and the support from LayCool helps his character develop into something we haven’t seen before from him. If he doesn’t win NXT I have no idea who will, he’s on a different level than all of the other competitors right now.

2) Dashing Cody Rhodes: I’m in a mood to reward people based on character development this week, and I’m liking what WWE’s been doing with Cody the past couple of weeks. The “good looking dude who’s in love with himself” gimmick has been done before, but if Cody can put a different spin on it I see big things coming from him. He looked good in the tag team main event on Smackdown and had the coolest move in the match with that springboard kick Todd Grisham called the “Beautiful Disaster”.
3) Percy Watson: Showtime had a good showing in the NXT Poll this week, which pleased me because I think he has good personality and is a natural at getting people interested in his matches. The glasses are pretty tight too.
4) Jeff Hardy
5) Motor City Machine Guns

Ronnie LaFianza
1) Kaval
In a pretty uneventful week, Kaval probably made the biggest impact. He won a huge six man tag team match on NXT and came in at #1 in the rankings.

2) Randy Orton – He won the match for his team on Raw and stood at the top of the ladder with the briefcase. While that automatically ruins any chance he has of winning at MITB, he still made a statement.
3) Cody Rhodes – Rhodes’ new gimmick is really starting to work for him. When he was moved to Smackdown, it looked like he might not have much of a chance. But with this new gimmick, Rhodes is starting to make an impact.
4) Motor City Machine Guns
5) Samoa Joe

Chad Nevett
1) Kaval
Picked up the pin during the six-man tag match on NXT, breaking the seeming curse of smaller, more talented rookies where they always seem to lose and, then, he was ranked #1 of all the rookies.

2) Brian Kendrick: Beat Desmond Wolfe in a submission match, something I don’t think anyone would have predicted.
3) Jeff Hardy: Picked up the win over fellow #1 contender Abyss.
4) Jack Swagger
5) Samoa Joe

Michael Bauer
1) Kaval
I guess by default it’s him since nothing happened anywhere else. He looked good in NXT this week, showed some personality, and go the #1 rank.

2) Randy Orton and Edge (tie): They both made the MITB for Raw matter… at least for this week.
3) The Motor City Machine Guns: They look they actually matter in TNA now and I like that.
4) Kaz Hyashi
5) Jeff Hardy

Jeremy Thomas
1) Cody Rhodes
I’m not sold on Cody’s “Dashing” gimmick yet, but he’s doing everything to make it work and the push that’s accompanying it is surprising. I don’t know if it will go anywhere past this but for now, I’m intrigued if he can make it.

2) Kaval: He won #1 in the NXT pool and got the pin in the six-man. Good enough for #2 this week.
3) Jeff Hardy: Pinned his fellow #1 contender in Abyss, giving him the big momentum heading into the last week before Victory Road.
4) Motor City Machine Guns
5) Kaz Hayashi

Ryan Byers
1) Kaval
I did not in any way, shape, or form expect this little bugger to top the rankings this week on NXT, even though the reality is that he’s probably the best in-ring performer of their crew. This shows that somebody in WWE has some degree of faith in him despite his stature, which is great because otherwise I could virtually guarantee that he’d be getting the Jamie Noble treatment once this season of NXT came to an end.

2) Kaz Hayashi: Hayashi made the thirteenth successful defense of his current All Japan Junior Heavyweight Title reign this week, defeating TAKA Michinoku. This puts Kaz one win away from tying the all-time defenses record for the AJW Junior strap. I’d be amazed if he didn’t tie the record at this point and a bit surprised if he didn’t ultimately surpass it.
3) Percy Watson: He’s been my personal favorite performer on this season of NXT, and I was very glad to see him get a deserved number two slot in the rankings.
4) TARU & Big Daddy V
5) Minoru Suzuki

THE WINNERS~!

Special Mention…Akebono and Taiyo Kea – 5 Votes

Fifth Place…Percy Watson – 6 Votes

Fourth Place…The Motor City Machine Guns – 8 Votes

Third Place…Samoa Joe, Randy Orton and Jeff Hardy – 10 Votes

Orton owns the end of Raw, while Joe defeated AJ Styles and Jeff Hardy defeated Abyss.

Second Place…Kaz Hayashi and Cody Rhodes – 12 Votes

Kaz Hayashi continues to rule in AJPW, while Cody Rhodes in simply “dashing”…

Wrestler of the Week…Kaval – 37 Votes

Kaval takes the top spot on the NXT poll, and in a light week, that was enough for him to capture the WOTW.

Year-End Standings~!
Kaval, Samoa Joe and Jeff Hardy all make debuts on the list this week, Randy Orton leaps into a tie for second place, but the top five stay the same….

Let’s check out the Year-End Standings!

1. Jack Swagger – 55 (SmackDown)

2. Rob Van Dam – 40 (TNA)

3. Wade Barrett – 35 (Raw)

4. Bryan Danielson – 32 (US Independent)

5. Rey Mysterio – 27 (Smackdown)
5. Evan Bourne – 27 (Raw)

7. Kofi Kingston – 25 (Smackdown)
7. Randy Orton – 25 (Raw)

9. Claudio Castagnoli – 24 (ROH)
9. Tyson Kidd – 24 (Raw)
9. DH Smith – 24 (Raw)

12. Kurt Angle – 18 (TNA)

13. Tyler Black – 16 (ROH)

14. Madison Eagles – 15 (SHIMMER)
14. Togi Makabe – 15 (IWGP)
14. Kaval – 15 (NXT)
14. Edge – 15 (Raw)
14. R-Truth – 15 (Raw)
14. Sheamus – 15 (Raw)

Douglas Williams – 13 (TNA)

Chris Hero – 12 (ROH)
Ares – 12 (US Independent)
Tursas – 12 (US Independent)
Minoru Suzuki – 12 (AJPW)
Kaz Hayashi– 12 (AJPW)
Paul London – 12 (US Independent)
El Generico – 12 (US Independent)
John Cena – 12 (Raw)
Desmond Wolfe – 12 (TNA)
Matt Hardy – 12 (SmackDown)
Chris Jericho – 12 (Raw)
Cody Rhodes – 12 (Smackdown)

Mr. Anderson – 10 (TNA)
Kazarian – 10 (TNA)

YAMATO – 9 (Dragon Gate)
Jay Lethal – 9 (TNA)
Samoa Joe – 9 (TNA)
Jeff Hardy – 9 (TNA)
Davey Richards – 9 (ROH)
Prince Devitt – 6 (NJPW)
Robert Roode – 9 (TNA)
James Storm – 9 (TNA)

Heath Slater – 6 (NXT)
Nick Jackson – 6 (TNA)
Matt Jackson – 6 (TNA)
Chris Sabin– 6 (TNA)
Alex Shelley – 6 (TNA)
Bison Smith – 6 (NOAH)
Keith Walker – 6 (NOAH)
AJ Styles – 6 (TNA)
Bret Hart – 6 (Raw)

Christopher Daniels – 4 (ROH)

Jon Moxley – 3 (US Independent)
CM Punk – 3 (Smackdown)
Percy Watson – 3 (NXT)
Dr. Wagner Jr. – 3(AAA)
Willie Richardson – 3 (US Independent)
Marshe Rocket – 3 (US Independent)
Acid Jaz – 3 (US Independent)

Kane – 2 (SmackDown)

John Morrison – 1 (Raw)
Beth Phoenix – 1 (SmackDown)
Ted DiBiase – 1 (Raw)
Christian – 1 (Smackdown)
Shingo Takagi – 1 (Dragon Gate)
Chuck Taylor – 1 (US Independent)
Masaaki Mochizuki – 1 (Dragon Gate)
Batista – 1 (Raw)
The Undertaker – 1 (Smackdown)
Giant Bernard – 1 (NJPW)
Karl Anderson – 1 (NJPW)
Akebono – 1 (AJPW)
Taiyo Kea – 1 (AJPW)